The present invention relates to a control device for an engine, particularly to a control device for an engine, which controls an engine torque according to operation of an accelerator pedal performed by a driver.
Conventionally, engines of vehicles are controlled in consideration of a jerk (a rate of change (derivative value) of an acceleration per unit time, also referred to as a jolt, surge, or lurch) produced in the vehicles. For example, JP5499882B2 discloses an art of controlling an engine torque to maximize a jerk produced in a vehicle when an actual torque reaches a predetermined ratio (e.g., between 70 and 80 percent) with respect to a target torque which is set based on an operation amount of an accelerator pedal of the vehicle. With this art, the actual torque is greatly increased to provide a driver of the vehicle with an acceleration feel corresponding to the operation state of the accelerator pedal.
Meanwhile, with the conventional art, the acceleration feel is increased by the control taking into consideration the jerk produced during acceleration of the vehicle, and the control is not performed by taking into consideration a jerk produced during deceleration of the vehicle. It can be considered that by controlling the engine such that the jerk produced during deceleration of the vehicle correlates to the jerk produced during acceleration of the vehicle (e.g., controlling the engine such that a change mode of the jerk produced during deceleration becomes similar to a change mode of the jerk produced during acceleration), the acceleration feel and a deceleration feel, which are provided to the driver, are made to match each other, and a unity between the driver and the vehicle (a feeling akin to the “unity between a horse and its rider”) improves.